THE sign outside Shielfield Park declares the Bandits ride into town every Saturday night.

They got it wrong this weekend by around 16 hours.

The shale track inside the old ground plays host to Berwick’s speedway favourites but the surprisingly lush playing surface it surrounds yesterday welcomed a coughing, spluttering, wheezing machine of a football team.

Rangers might be Harley Davidsons at this level, on paper at least, but they have shown nothing so far this season to suggest they can cope with the hurly-burly of road trips to the backwaters of the Scottish game.

Berwick fans taunted their more famous namesakes on the final whistle with gloating cries of: “Who are ya?”

It’s a question Ally McCoist and his players should attempt to answer this morning when they step up to the mirror to shave cheeks that should still be burning beetroot red with embarrassment.

Firstly, take nothing away from Ian Little’s side, who ran themselves into the ground and created more than enough chances to argue, with some justification, they deserved to take all three points.

They were self-disciplined, organised and, at times, pacy and penetrative, especially when sub Fraser McLaren, a former Scotland Under-21 striker, appeared after an hour to turn the game on its head.

Rangers, on the other hand, were a shambles. They concerted no meaningful pressure on the Berwick defence at any stage and scythed no cutting-edge passes through Chris Townsley and Co on a superb pitch that deserved precision play.

Passes went astray, they were wasteful on the ball and, all too often, with little or no options available, they were reduced to lumping long, hopeful balls forward to Fran Sandaza and then Kevin Kyle.

Shielfield Park is overlooked by one of the biggest granaries in the UK and too often the Rangers from Glasgow were also far too agricultural.

No one said it was going to be easy but Rangers lacked anyone willing to gamble as Lee McCulloch and Ian Black sat in the centre of midfield and failed to orchestrate anything of note from open play.

Chris Townsley of Berwick heads home against Rangers but his effort was disallowed

Kids Barrie McKay and Lewis Ma cLeod have won plaudits in the opening weeks of the new season but they looked overawed and shorn of confidence when faced with a wall of yellow and black and retreated into their shells.

Rangers will still win the Third Division by the length of the A1, but they need big personalities to step forward now and accept responsibility of bringing SPL-quality performances for the SPL wages they are earning.

This was turgid, tortuous stuff from the visitors, who handed what turned out to be an uncomfortable debut to Greek defender Anestis Argyriou at left-back.

Indecision infested the back four as the game progressed and McLaren looked more sprightly as Emilson Caribari, Carlos Bocanegra and Ross Perry became increasingly ill-at-ease.

It was going to plan – sort of – when striker Andrew Little scored his seventh goal in six games with virtually the last kick of the first half, in front of watching Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill.

Unsurprisingly, his strike came off a set piece, which was well worked, as McCulloch peeled off at the back post to nod a Black free-kick into the path of the striker, who finished with aplomb.

It was a lead Rangers scarcely deserved as Berwick keeper Youseff Bejaoui had been given nothing to do until then, although Neil Alexander was hardly overworked either.

Rangers have to learn to fight for the right to party, but their fans needed no such invitation as they basked in the sunshine, fuelled by English licensing hours that saw boozers in the town at the mouth of the Tweed open from 9am.

However, the fans performed at times equally as badly as their team as the Billy Boys was dusted down for a couple of airings while hopes we could all say RIP to FTP in this new era for the Ibrox club appear, sadly, optimistic at this stage.

Smoke bombs were also released off the pitch during the first half and alarm bells continued to ring for Rangers on it, even after they took the lead.

Berwick's Fraser McLaren calmly fires home the equaliser

Berwick winger Kevin McDonald drew a right-foot shot narrowly wide a minute into the second half but it was the appearance of former Gretna kid McLaren that really swung the game firmly in the favour of his side.

His turn of speed was crucial on 63 minutes when he netted the equaliser, nipping in front of Caribari from a Lee Currie pass down the inside left channel before he smashed a low shot across Alexander and into the net.

Rangers fans, who had been crowd surfing and knocking balloons and inflatables about, were suddenly deflated as their day in the sun was threatened by dark clouds of their side’s anxiety.

Admittedly, McCulloch should have restored his side’s advantage midway through the second half, but he fired his volley wastefully wide from 12 yards on a rare Rangers break through the centre of the Berwick defence.

Townsley, Dougie Brydon and Dean Hoskins were standing firm and as Rangers became increasingly desperate in the final third, it was Berwick who began to pick and probe for the winner with greater skill and authority.

McLaren fired a shot inches wide on 75 minutes then, in the final minute, let rip with a strike from 30 yards that was brilliantly touched over by Alexander.

Townsley nodded the ball into the net from the resulting corner, but ref Mike Tumilty had already blown for a free-kick, ruling McLaren had barged into the Rangers keeper at the front post.

The decision looked suspect – but not half as dodgy as a performance Rangers will do well to remember if they are to forget playing at this level ever again.